Female Genital Mutilation Comes to Minnesota

From today’s Pioneer Press, an appalling story that should be a wake-up call:

A Detroit-area emergency room doctor has been charged for allegedly performing genital mutilation on two 7-year-old girls from Minneapolis.

Dr. Jumana Nagarwala
Dr. Jumana Nagarwala

Dr. Jumana Nagarwala is charged with performing the procedure out of a clinic in Livonia, Mich., in February, according to a charges filed in U.S. District Court Thursday.
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The criminal complaint states that Nagarwala is a member of a religious or cultural “community” known to practice FGM on young girls.

The FBI said it pursued the case after the agency and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations received information that Nagarwala was performing FGM in the area. Agents sought court permission for Nagarwala’s phone records via her phone company. The search showed a series of calls between her and one of the Minnesota victims’ mothers, the complaint said.

You can read the criminal complaint here. This is a paragraph dealing with Minnesota Victim Number 2, a seven year old girl:

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The Pioneer Press story also notes that this is the first prosecution under the federal law that criminalizes female genital mutilation. That law has been on the books since 1996. Is it coincidence that we now have a Department of Justice willing to enforce it? I suspect not.

This story should perhaps be read in conjunction with the Star Tribune’s account of a one-man “religious police” force who is patrolling the Cedar Riverside area, trying to enforce Sharia law. For now, it’s just one guy. But will that always be true?